While he felt relieved to see her face soften, he asked nervously, “Were you just...sitting there the whole time? What in the world were you doing?”
“Since you said I could do as I liked...I...um...” Charlotte paused, shyly scratching her cheek. Then she announced, “I was counting the grains in the flooring!”
“The grains...in the flooring?” Allen didn’t know what else to say. True, he had told her to do whatever she wanted. What she chose to do in her spare time was none of his business. Even so—even if one had been bored out of one’s wits with nothing to do—would anyone choose to count the lines in pieces of wood? Surely that was scraping the very bottom of the barrel.
“Right...Charlotte. Come here for a second.”
“Y-Yes?”
Allen got up from the sofa and made her sit down in his place. Crouching down in front of her, he looked into her eyes. This was his method for detecting lies. “Charlotte, I have some questions for you. Do you have any hobbies?”
“Hobbies?” She cocked her head, puzzled, as if she had never heard the word before. For a moment, Allen worried whether she understood, but she soon hummed in contemplation. “Hmm...not in particular... I’m sorry.”
“B-But then, what did you do in your spare time when you lived back home?”
“Besides my lessons for becoming a good wife, I did the housework, like cleaning and sewing...so I didn’t have much free time.”
Though her story was so pitiful, she smiled brightly as she spoke. This brought a lump to his throat. He choked out another question. “What about those lessons, then? Was there anything you enjoyed?”
“Umm...I don’t know about ‘enjoying’ them... I was always making mistakes and getting scolded, you see.”
Allen decided to try a new angle. “Okay. What was the last thing that made you feel happy?”
“Let’s see... Oh! I know!” Her excited tone made him feel slightly hopeful, but she went on, “About two months ago, Lady Natalia—um, my younger sister—gave me a fruit as a reward for working so hard every day! It was half spoiled...but it’s very rare that I’m given such a special treat, so I was so happy!”
Allen was speechless. Wasn’t that what people called bullying, or tormenting?
“Oh? Allen? Your face is getting kind of scary...”
“That’s just how I look. No matter. Anyway...how old are you?”
“Um, I’m seventeen.”
“Seventeen?!” He shuddered in disbelief. She was four years younger than Allen. When he was seventeen, he was still at the school of magic. He had been living a carefree life back then, bombarding the professors with questions till they got teary every day, punishing cheeky students whose attitudes were too big for their own good, blowing up multiple laboratories with his potion experiments. Though he had always reigned at the top—far above the rest when it came to his achievements in research—he had undoubtedly been nothing more than an irresponsible fool.
Compared to his teenage years, what were Charlotte’s like? These should have been the most exciting days of her life, but she had neither hobbies, nor happy memories—only her exploitation at the hands of those around her. To top it off, everyone had betrayed her, and she had nearly died in this remote corner of the forest, only to be taken in by a bad-natured wizard with a malevolent look.
How can life be so cruel?! Allen despaired. He could tell from her eyes that she was only telling the truth. He knew that pity, readily offered by a stranger like him, would be an insult to her, but he couldn’t help it.
“Right. I know what I’m going to do.”
“Wh-What is it?” she asked, tilting her head with a worried look.
Ignoring her concern, he slowly stood up and pointed his finger straight in her face. “Charlotte. I’m going to teach you...all the naughty pleasures of this world!!!”
She couldn’t speak for a few moments. “Excuse me?”
♢
Three hours later, Allen returned to the mansion holding a huge bundle and called out, “I’m home!”
“W-Welcome back...” Charlotte came out to greet him, though she looked a little troubled.
After his bizarre declaration, he had rushed straight to the city and gone on another shopping spree. It was long past sunset now, and a clear crescent moon drifted pleasantly in the night sky.
Allen placed his haul on the living room table: four big boxes and three cloth bags. Charlotte was even more perplexed to see them laid out in front of her.
“Y-You’ve bought so many things...but I thought you’d used up your cash...”
“Indeed. So I sold off some of my enchanted objects. Got fifty gold coins.”
“Fifty?!” Charlotte didn’t know what to say. Enchanted objects were items charmed with a special spell. They could be all kinds of things—a bonfire that could never be extinguished, even when it rained, or a wand that could shoot out balls of fire just by shaking it, for example—but if these had fetched fifty gold coins, they must have been of superior quality. An average citizen could easily live on fifty gold coins for at least three months.
“B-But why so much money?!” she finally stuttered.
“Is it that shocking? For a lady from a duke’s family, your sense of money is like a commoner’s.”
“Well, when I was little, I used to live in the countryside with my mother...but please don’t change the subject!” Charlotte shook her head desperately and murmured in a trembling voice, “If you could sell them for such a high price, those enchanted objects must have been very valuable... Why did you have to part with them?”
“Simple,” Allen replied. “I was in need of some cash. Besides, I have other enchanted objects, and I can always make more.” Unlike potions, getting a value assessment of enchanted objects was a rather tedious business, so Allen rarely sold them unless he had a very good reason to. And this was a special case.
“Right, Charlotte. Take a seat here.”
“Oh...y-yes.” She sat down hesitantly in the seat he had drawn for her. Allen nodded in satisfaction, but she looked confused.
“Charlotte. You heard what I said earlier—that I’m going to teach you all the naughty pleasures of this world?”
“Yes, but...what do you mean by ‘naughty pleasures’?”
“Indulgences, delights. What I had in mind was...” he gently cupped her chin in his hand and grinned, “the kind of pleasure that goes against morality.”
“M-Morality?”
“Exactly. You see, naughty things are exhilarating. Once you try it, you’ll get hooked.”
Charlotte blinked even more in bewilderment. She looked completely lost.